Lying awake and tossing and turning late into the night is truly exhausting, is it not? From a modern medical perspective, sleep is a critical time when our brain reduces its activity and reorganizes itself. Insomnia manifests in various forms, not only as difficulty falling asleep, but also as trouble maintaining sleep or experiencing repetitive shallow sleep. This tends to occur when the balance of our autonomic nervous system is disrupted and problems arise with intracerebral neurotransmitters.
In particular, when stress accumulates, the sympathetic nerve becomes excessively active, maintaining a fight-or-flight response state, which hinders the action of the parasympathetic nerve that induces sleep. In other words, the body and mind remain in a continuous state of tension, unable to take a rest.
This is precisely where the wisdom of the Donguibogam intersects with modern science: Shenmen (HT7). This small acupoint on the inner wrist is not just a simple dot. Stimulating this area activates various sensory nerve fibers, including the vagus nerve, sending signals to specific regions of the brain. These signals travel to areas that manage emotional regulation and the sleep-wake cycle, such as the hypothalamus, brainstem, and limbic system, exerting positive effects.
Specifically, stimulating Shenmen (HT7) reduces the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol and improves heart rate variability, helping the heart beat stably. Furthermore, it promotes the secretion of sleep-inducing neurotransmitters such as melatonin and serotonin, and can increase the activity of gamma-aminobutyric acid, which suppresses brain activity to provide a calming effect. Consequently, this stabilizes brain waves, shortens the time it takes to fall asleep, and improves the quality of both REM sleep and non-REM sleep, inducing deep and comfortable rest. Applying acupressure to this small acupoint goes beyond a simple folk remedy; it is a scientific approach that leverages our body's delicate neurochemical mechanisms to help restore natural sleep. Starting tonight, gift yourself a comfortable sleep with Shenmen (HT7) acupressure.
